LAGOON 380: A VERY BIG LITTLE 12-METER CRAFT

In 1999, the dynamic team from “LAGOON” has certainly kept busy. Since the Bénéteau Group took over the Jeanneau - JTA shipyard, Lagoon has moved to Bordeaux to join the Group’s CNB department and pursued the renewal of its range by offering in one year two new models: the 380 and the 570, thereby completing the “new look” of the 410 and 470. We took advantage of the autumn boat shows to test the 380…

The “last born” Lagoon presented for the first time at the boat shows of Le Grand Pavois and in Cannes clearly illustrates the shipyard’s resolution in offering sailboats that are resolutely turned toward the future and… she’s really full of surprises!

Preamble

The 380 is clearly of the lineage of the 410, also built at Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, while the 470, 570 and 67 are made in Bordeaux. The second unit built that we just tested had barely been launched. The weather on this of September 7, 1999 on the coast of Vendée and the southern Île d’Yeu: a light to moderate west current, with the sea fine to slightly agitated. This was no day when we would have to put on our oilskins! But do you really need high winds and a raging sea for such a test? True, considering the behavior of a new sailboat in choppy seas, analyzing its pitching movements, it ability to “return home” are essential indeed, as much at the examination of the same boat in its most frequent context, i.e. a leisurely cruise with average breezes, mild sunny weather and coasting for sightseeing. With experience, you can guess the qualities and faults regardless of the weather encountered during the test…

Present...